SEO and Social Media – IS there an impact?

So if you ask if there’s an SEO impact on social media, the internet has every answer from a resounding yes to a damning no. What is the truth?

Back in the day, Matt Cutts at Google said that direct social media interaction, a like or a retweet can’t have a direct impact. They tried it and the algorithm was too complex. But that isn’t to say that you don’t get benefits indirectly from social media.

Links through Awareness

Social media is a fantastic tool to increase brand awareness. Any boost in your profile will lead to links. If someone sees your video on Twitter, they may link to it later in their blog or on their news site.

Searches through Awareness

So if potential visitors on social media spot you, they could end up looking for you on Google. Google uses searches to judge how popular your site is. If you have lots of people looking for you, then Google judges you to be popular and boosts you up the ranking when people are searching for keywords relating to your brand too.

Brand Signals

It’s not just about links. Even a mention can get you a boost through what Google call co-citation. Boost your brand on social media and you may see a boost in how much you are talked about on various websites, even if you aren’t getting that link.

Traffic Volume

Getting traffic to your site boosts rankings. If you are getting people to come to your site and then browse for a while, you are definitely signalling to Google that you have stuff that people want to see.

Who knows what the future holds for SEO and social media. For now, it’s safe to say that you need to incorporate social media into any SEO strategy.